Classes: Obedience

I love and admire dogs, and helping them live their best life became one of my life's missions. To do so, I became a Dog Trainer and specialized in Separation Anxiety cases. Studying Canine Behavior and finding better ways to train and understand our dogs is an ongoing focus for me.

My dog training beliefs and methods are game-based, while using positive reinforcement. As a mom, I know how busy life can be (kids, work, family, etc.). I try to make dog training fun and simple in order to achieve a common goal between owner and dog, which is living together in harmony.

I love exploring and learning other dog sports and activities. I am currently doing Scent Work and Rat Sport: Urban Location with my dogs, Prada (15.5 years) and Picca (1.5 years), and Agility with Picca. I would love to join other dog sports in the near future.

AKC Evaluator: ATT, CGC, CGCA, CGCU, Fit Dog, and all Trick Dog levels

AKC Judge: Fetch

Patty has been passionate about dog training since childhood, when she hosted weekly obedience meetups for neighborhood dogs every Saturday. What began as a childhood pastime has evolved into a fulfilling career rooted in canine training and sports.

Today, Patty shares her life with two Irish Setters and a Miniature Australian Shepherd. She holds multiple credentials, including AKC Fit Dog Instructor, Canine Good Citizen (CGC) Evaluator, and AKC Fetch Judge. For the past three years, she has also been a dedicated member of a trick dog performance team, showcasing her dogs' talents and promoting positive training techniques.

In addition to her work in the dog world, Patty is the owner and operator of Beat CPR Training Center, where she teaches lifesaving CPR skills to both healthcare professionals and community members.

Classes:  Scent Work

Erin was born and raised in San Jose, California, where her love for animals began at an early age. Her passion for dogs grew in 2013 with the arrival of Posie, a black Labrador Retriever who introduced her to the world of dog sports.

Since then, Erin and her family have added another black Lab, Pax, and have actively trained and competed in Canine Good Citizen, Obedience, Rally, Tricks, Scent Work also known as nose work. While she enjoys all dog sports, Scent Work has become her main focus. Erin now also teaches Scent Work, helping others discover the joy of the sport.

She has competed—primarily with Pax—in NACSW, SDS, and AKC, and has attended numerous workshops, seminars, and Scent Work camps, including in Colorado. Pax currently trials at the Elite level in NACSW and the Detective level in AKC, with multiple High in Trial and top placements across organizations. Erin also continues to train and trial Posie alongside her parents.

Passionate about building strong bonds between dogs and their handlers, Erin enjoys sharing her knowledge and love of dog sports with others.

Classes:  Scentwork

Madeline was born and raised in San Jose where she attended San Jose State University and graduated with a degree in biology.

Animals have always been her passion, especially owning and training Labrador Retrievers. Her love of Labradors began with obedience training in 4-H club, led to pursuing a career in the veterinary field, and continues with her current passion for canine scentwork.

Madeline has been heavily involved with scentwork for the past 10 years. With her Labrador, Posie, she has trialed with all the major nosework/scentwork groups, including NACSW, USCSS, SDDA, SDS, as well as AKC. She has attended numerous workshops/seminars/classes, California Narcotics Canine Association joint conferences, and many weeklong nosework camps in Oregon and Colorado.

Madeline’s dog, Posie, is currently trialing at the summit level in NACSW, holds iron dog titles in Sniffing Dog Sports (SDS), is trialing at the detective level in AKC, and received many high-in-trial ribbons through AKC. She is currently sharing trialing and the training of her younger Labrador, Pax, with her daughter and husband. She finds sharing her love of the sport addicting and enjoys the rewards of helping others build a special relationship with their dog through nosework/scentwork.

Classes: Obedience

Lynn has been competing in AKC Obedience Trials for 48 years. She has owned 20 dogs: Two Great Danes, two Golden Retrievers, 1 Labrador Retriever, and 15 Border Collies.

 Her first obedience trial was with her male Great Dane. He went on to earn his UD by the age of 3 years. He was a consistent qualifier throughout his show career with scores of 196.5 and ranked number one for his breed. He competed in Gaines Super Dog in the Super Dog Division. He qualified after competing in the first day of the two-day event showing twice in Open and twice in Utility. 

Her dogs have achieved

- 4 Obedience Trial Championships (one Lab and 3 Border Collies)

- 4th place Gaines Super Dog with her Labrador

- 1st place Gaines Open Division with her male Border Collie.

- 4th place Cycle Utility Division with her female Border Collie.

- She put the first Utility title on a Clumber Spaniel in the history of the breed.

- Nationally ranked in Delaney and Shuman systems

- Multiple High in Trials, High Combines and 200 score.

- Multiple UD's, UDX's and Obedience Grand Master.

Her students have achieved Obedience Trial Championships, multiple High in Trials, High Combined and national rankings. She has privately trained students for competition in 44 different breeds

Lynn is currently simultaneously competing with her 4 UD dogs in AKC Open B and AKC Utility B. They have earned multiple First placements, High in Trial, and Obedience Trial Championship (OTCH) points.

Classes:  Scentwork

Laura and her dog Piko have trained, competed, and titled in many AKC events, including Obedience, Rally, Tricks, and Scent Work.  Piko is a mixed breed, and is 13 years old, and loves to do scent work and therapy dog visits together with Laura at all different venues.   Piko and Laura have been doing scent work for more than 6 yrs now, and are currently working in Masters and Detective level AKC Scent Work. Piko also works as a Therapy Dog.

Laura loves to work with dogs and handlers who are new to the sport and teaches in the way that she was taught, which is to dive right in and to have fun. Dogs with nervous or shy personalities can often gain confidence and discipline by working as a team with their handler in this sport which provides them with positive reinforcement for doing what they naturally do so well...use their nose.  Scent Work is a game for the dogs and handlers, and it is a joy to watch dogs of all ages and handlers excel in this sport.

Classes:  Puppy and Beginner

Ani is a Certified Training Partner of Karen Pryor Academy (KPA CTP), Fear Free Certified, and an AKC CGC Evaluator.  Ani was involved with animal rescue for over 20 years, and transitioned that passion into providing effective and convenient solutions for people to meet their dog’s needs.  Ani continues to pursue her ongoing education in dog behavior by attending courses and seminars and keeping up to date on science-based positive dog training.  When not helping training clients, Ani runs a home-based vacation boarding and enjoys time with her 4 dogs.

Classes: Rally

Susan Horovitz has been showing and training dogs for 10 years. Susan and her dogs train in conformation, obedience, rally, agility and tracking. Susan has put Grand Champion titles on her two Cocker Spaniels in AKC Conformation and CD titles on both dogs in AKC Obedience. Her older dog, Cleo, has her AKC Rally Master 2 title and 17 triple Q’s before becoming sight and hearing impaired. Her younger dog, Juniper, has her AKC Rally Excellent title and is just getting started on her goal to achieve her RACH, Rally Champion, title.

 In addition to teaching Rally classes at Santa Clara Dog Training Club, Susan is a club member who helps support the club in other events and trials. She is a member of the American Spaniel Club and two northern California Cocker Spaniel clubs.

If you can’t tell already, Susan is a competitor when it comes to training rally. Her goals include for students to have a working knowledge of AKC rally signs with proper foot work and stops, clean movement when running the course, and a happy connection with their dog in the ring. Susan’s overarching goal is to create a supportive group of class members who coach each other and love to compete (and have fun).

Classes: Conformation

Nive has been a dog trainer and handler for over 10 years, showing dogs in AKC Conformation and participating in other sports including agility, obedience, and rally.

She had also been actively involved in basic obedience and puppy training for rescue work for the past few years.

While Nive primarily focuses on showing Australian Shepherds, she also enjoys working with and handling many different breeds. Passionate about making Conformation an enjoyable experience. Nive emphasizes building a strong bond between handlers and their dogs, ensuring that training is both effective and fun.

Classes: Tricks and Obedience

Suzanne has had rescue dogs her whole adult life, but only started AKC training a little over 20 years ago when she got her Australian Cattle dog, and a year later her Australian working kelpie, who became a certified therapy dog. The delight and challenge of training highly intelligent and independent herding dogs opened the door to her love of formal training. Tracking in particular has been her first love.  

Her dogs have earned CGC titles, trick dog advanced titles, an obedience title, and a tracking title, and they are doing scent work and occasionally agility. She is also currently working with a group tricks team.  Her goal is helping people discover their dog’s passion through positive training and building a partnership between the owner and dog that is joyful, thoughtful, and mutually satisfying.

Classes:  Obedience

Dave has been training dogs for 30 years. He has been working for SCDTC as a trainer or assistant trainer for 18 years. He has earned titles with his Labrador Retrievers in obedience, rally, and scent work. His other interests are golf, hiking, and fishing.

His current dogs are:

- Top Dog’s Red Bluff Rising NW2 RA PCDX

- Arroyo Grande’s Hidden Cache NW1 RN CDX